Leila's blog

Thu, Dec 20, 2007

We Saved Our Sea, for now

I am in a cautiously optimistic mood following the news that Cardigan Bay is unlikely to see any exploration for oil and gas in the near future. Today the newly formed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform released a draft environmental report that said not enough was known about the dolphins in the bay to grant licences. It states 'On account of uncertainties about the size, distribution and location of the resident population of bottlenose dolphins within the Cardigan Bay Natura 2000 site, this assessment does not presently support the granting of consent...This conclusion may be revisited once new data becomes available.' The assessment on Cardigan Bay concluded that lack of knowledge about the dolphins living there meant that it would be hard to put in place measures to avoid disturbing them. The only other bottlenose dolphin population in UK waters were not so lucky. The assessment for the Moray Firth was in favour of allowing licensing on the basis that the dolphins there were better studied and so measures could be made that would reduce the impact.
Naturally I am delighted that all out hard work appears to have paid off. However, this is still a draft assessment and it is possible they could overturn this decision. I am disappointed that rather than accept that oil and gas exploration causes environmental damage and contributes to climate change, they have halted plans for now due to lack of information. I won't celebrate until we have a firm NO to drilling, not just now but into the future.

So, before I crack out the champagne (if only I believed in decadence, or had the wealth to do so) I should explain my long absence from the blog. Holiday. New Job. Christmas. Will that do? Oh, and before you worry too much about your Christmas overspend, spare a thought for the Chancellor. The UK's deficit is the highest its been since, um, just before the last recession. Maybe we should start hoping for a Christmas in the black before we dream of a white one. Sorry, I forgot, white Christmas's really are becoming a fantasy with that lovely climate change to warm us all up. (I know it's all a bit gloomy but we're not used to winning)

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